


Vows

by savvyliterate



Category: Slayers (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24853399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savvyliterate/pseuds/savvyliterate
Summary: In the middle of the night, Gourry gets an unlikely visitor that changes everything.
Relationships: Gourry Gabriev/Lina Inverse, Zelgadis Greywords/Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun
Comments: 17
Kudos: 27





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> In 2010, this started as a one-shot involving a time-traveling Lina visiting Gourry. But thanks to a combination of too much "Doctor Who," working on my own comic and the exquisite Inuyasha fanfic "The Phoenix Blade: Time Lapse" by Fenikkusuken, it grew into something larger. 
> 
> Now it is 2020, and this story is one of the ones that got away. I wanted to write a mature fantasy romance starring these two characters, one set after the 15th novel. Obviously, it is wildly diverging from novel canon as we've had two more novels in the intervening years. I have become a far better writer in the past 10 years. So, I'm starting it again from the beginning and removing the older version. While some key elements have changed, the core of this story has not. I hope you enjoy what it has matured into.

Gourry’s eyes snapped open.

Everything seemed quiet. It was another nondescript inn in another nondescript town. The moonlight shone through the lace curtains and made cobweb patterns on the ceiling. The only sound was crickets chirping and his heavy breathing. 

He sat up, scooping his hair out of his face. Something wasn't right. Usually, when he felt like this, it was some sort of mazoku targeting Lina. Always go with his gut, his father had counseled him before his death, and Gourry's gut hadn't proven him wrong yet.

He padded on bare feet to the window and stared at the road. The inn was on a main thoroughfare, and it wasn’t that unusual to hear some night traffic. But there was nothing: no mail coach rumbling by, no lost traveler seeking shelter.

Gourry scanned the street, then sighed. Lina had probably sneaked out to bandit hunt again. She swore repeatedly that she would leave him a note or something, but knowing her, the thrill of the hunt had gotten into her and she forgot. Again.

He debated going back to bed, but he knew he was going to go find her. He always would. He was never quite sure who he was saving in the process: Lina or anyone unlucky enough to get in her way on while she was hellbent on bandit hunting.

He had his nightshirt halfway off when a bright flash of light filled the room. Even through the fabric of the shirt, it blinded him and he stumbled back. He tore it off in one smooth motion, throwing one arm over his eyes as he did so. He reached blindly with his other hand for the Blast Sword, wrapping his hand around the hilt as the light subsided.

He blinked several times to restore his vision, but spots kept dancing in front of his eyes. He shifted into a battle stance, waiting for the first blow. 

It never came.

It was not quite a minute before Gourry’s vision was fully restored. Everything seemed the same except he was standing half-naked in the middle of the room, looking for an enemy he couldn’t see. It was not the first time this had happened.

Then he saw the woman crumpled by the door, and his heart stopped.

"Lina!" Gourry tossed the sword on the bed as he raced to her side.

He reached her at the same time she moaned, then pushed herself onto her knees. She cradled her head in her hands for a moment before dragging her fingers down her face, then looked up at him. Her eyes went wide with shock. "Gourry?"

"Lina?" Before he ask anything else, she was on her feet and her arms were around him. Shock rippled through him and, somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered that he had on nothing but boxers.

“You’re alive.” She said this into his chest, and he felt the hot slide of tears on his skin. “You’re OK.”

Gourry could count on one hand the number of times Lina Inverse had fallen apart in his arms, and it woke feelings in him that he tried his damn best on a daily basis to suppress. “I told you not to go out bandit hunting without me,” he scolded.

“Bandit hunting?” She shoved away from him and scowled. She flicked her gaze around the room, then swore under her breath before returning her attention to him. He recognized the moment she realized how undressed he was and braced for the yelling.

But it never came. She gave him a slow, appreciative look in a way he’d never seen from her before. Mischief flashed in her eyes as her gaze lingered below his waist. He swallowed, fighting the urge to cover himself with his hands. Or walk over to her and cover her mouth with his instead. 

She tore her gaze away. "Dammit all to hell. This isn't the right time!"

Gourry wondered if he could snatch up his nightshirt as Lina began to pace the room. As she pivoted and her cloak flared out, he saw that it wasn’t just her attitude that was off. Her clothes were remarkably different. Her cloak was shorter, and she wore black shorts rather than leggings. Some sort of black breastplate covered her chest, secured at her waist with a yellow sash. She wore a bracelet, a piece of leather with some sort of green gem dangling from it, on her left arm. Her boots and the tunic she wore under the breastplate were familiar. 

She was a bit thinner, her hair a touch longer. She seemed tired, exhaustion lining her face in a way that hadn’t been there when they fought their friend Luke just a few weeks earlier.

Before he could analyze her any further, Lina swung around. "What time is it?" she demanded.

Gourry could barely see the moon from where he stood, but it was enough. “A couple hours until dawn?"

“No!” Lina tugged at her bangs and gave a short scream of frustration. "What time are we in? What year is it?"

Before Gourry could answer, she started pacing again. "Not that'll tell me much." She whirled, jabbing a finger at Gourry's chest. "Who did we fight last?"

"Well, there's a bandit group outside of town you wanted to ..."

"That's not helping!" Lina screamed and he flinched. She spotted the sword on the bed. "You've got the Blast Sword," she murmured. "Okay, that narrows it down. I can't be too far off." 

She fell silent for a moment, as if weighing her next question carefully. "Is Luke still alive?" she asked softly.

Everything fell into place. Lina looked and acted different because she _was_ different. "You're not the same Lina who's asleep next door, are you?"

"Gourry, please. I need to know."

“He died about three weeks ago."

Whatever Lina this was, she apparently knew about Luke and their second battle against a piece of Shabra-whatsit-thingy. He could never quite remember the name, and it didn’t matter now. She huffed instead of reacting to his news with grief or disbelief, which meant she had come to terms with it.

She had to be from their future. But how far? 

Things like magic and time travel weren’t in Gourry’s realm, period. That he completely left up to the likes of Lina and Zelgadiss and their other magic-using friends. But he knew that time travel could be bad if it wasn’t handled correctly. He glanced toward the wall that connected his room with Lina’s. The current Lina. The one he hoped was still sleeping. He wasn’t sure he could handle two Linas at once.

Future Lina’s sigh drew his attention back to her. "I'm not far off. I need to go back, tweak the calculations ... there's enough for a second try. Only one more, but we can nail it this time." She fished out an amulet from her cloak that looked like one of the talismans that she’d broken weeks earlier. "Don't tell me what you saw just now, OK?"

"Wait!" Gourry lunged, grabbing her free hand before she could do whatever with the amulet that would take her away from him. "You can't just leave. What’s going on? Where did you come from?"

"I can’t answer that!” Lina tried to jerk free, but his hold only tightened. "I'm not suppose to be here," she hissed. "I'm out of my own time." 

“I figured that much out! You’re from my future, right?”

She snorted. “There are days when you really surprise me.”

“Lina,” he growled.

“Look,” she countered, “anything I tell you about how time travel works is going to go over your head. Even if I had the time to explain it, I can’t tell you what I’m doing. It could cause a paradox, and man am I full of them at the moment. Anything I tell you could harm both me and the younger Lina sleeping next door. Gourry, you have to let me go to protect both of us.”

She had him. He would do anything to protect her, even this. He nodded and let go of her hand. 

He fully expected her to disappear, but she didn't. She stared at the amulet for a moment. "There's a war going on," she said more to the gem than to him, "and we're losing. I can't tell you any more. What I'm doing right now is extremely dangerous and even more illegal. Hell, I may not even survive getting back to my own time. I don't even know if you're alive or dead at the point in the future where I originally came from."

“Everything's going to be fine," Gourry said, the comforting reply instinctive. "Whatever we've faced ... we've always overcome it." 

He gave her a bright, confident smile, hoping it hid the terror that rolled in his stomach. But he knew they would be fine, because he believed in _her_. He had for years. Lina was the north on his compass, and he would always follow her. They would be fine, because he wasn’t sure how he would handle it if they weren’t.

She threw back her head in a silent laugh, and some of that terror unknotted just a bit. "You never change," Lina said with obvious affection. 

Gourry wondered what had transpired between the two of them in the future to create this sort of intimacy between them. He knew how he felt about her, but Lina ... well, her face was probably sketched next to the entry for "denial" in the dictionary. He almost checked once to see if it really was.

The future Lina approached him as he mulled over this, taking a lock of his hair in one hand and tugging him down until she could wrap her arms around his neck. Gourry inhaled sharply, and then she was kissing him, deeply and passionately. 

He’d been half-convinced he was still asleep, but the feel of her lips made him realize that he was very much awake. Nothing in those dreams matched finally being able touch her, to taste her in the way that he craved. Somewhere, somehow, she had finally seen past his shields as a protector and friend and found the man who desired her. It was their first kiss from his end, but clearly not from hers. There was no hesitation, only need.

His hands skimmed up her back, pressing her closer. The edges of her armor would leave grooves in his skin, but they would be temporary scars he’d carry with pride. The self control he honed rigorously threatened to slip as her hands skimmed down his bare arms, and he forced himself to focus only on this kiss. He burned it into the back of his mind, a crystal clear moment he would never forget. He once told her he remembered the things that mattered. _This_ mattered.

She pulled back, her breathing as heavy as his.  “You know,” she murmured, “now would be the time to tell you something ridiculously sentimental. But you already know, don’t you?”

His heart leaped into his throat, words failing him. He knew exactly what she was trying to tell him. He slumped against the door, not trusting his legs to hold him up.

Lina smirked. “Gourry? Find some clothes.”

Then she pressed her hand to the gem in the center of the amulet, muttered an incantation, and disappeared.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Latoka is the name of the town Lina and Gourry visit at the beginning of vol. 17 of the novels. The description of their clothing comes from the 17th novel cover, which is slightly tweaked in Gourry's case. In the original version, this was based off the 15th novel mural cover.

The bandits never knew what hit them.

They had been enjoying a hearty meal of roast beef, fried chipped potatoes, ale, and dessert, all swiped from a nearby inn when a worker accidentally left the back door open. Some were preoccupied with games, others with luring the camp followers back to their tents. It was a very good day to be a bandit in western Zefielia.

Then the fireball landed.

It incinerated the tree behind their boss, who dozed off after his lunch. It was followed in quick succession by a torching of their tents, along with copious amounts of destruction, taunting, and finally a Flare Arrow that singed the boss's rear. As they fled screaming into the hills, the loot they left behind was scooped up and carried off.

"That was way too easy," Lina brushed the dirt off her gloves as she and Gourry headed back to the road, her cloak much heavier than when they first arrived. "No cliché speeches, no insults to my rather magnificent figure, and they gave up rather quickly." 

No response.

“We're going soft on them, Gourry! They need to be on their edge, ready to face any challenge! A girl likes a little variety in her routine, you know?"

Still no response.

With a grunt, she glared at Gourry. She was never quite sure what he was thinking about, but his eyes looked even more vacant than normal. It had been like that for hours, ever since an unusually silent breakfast. Not just silent, but Gourry had barely eaten. He only ordered one dish, pushed his food around his plate and didn’t complain when she stole it. 

She was convinced his injuries from their fight against Luke were still bothering him. She had used her own rudimentary healing skills to patch him back together once they returned to Sairaag following the battle, and she bullied him into extra bedrest back then. He swore he was fine, and the healers she dragged him to said he was fine, but part of her didn’t believe it.

A quiet Gourry without an appetite was unnerving. 

Frustrated, Lina snarled and tripped him up. With a yelp, Gourry landed face first in the dirt - complete with a scraped-up nose and a sore lip from where he accidentally bit it.

"What is with you, Gourry?" she demanded, striding in front of him. She didn’t want him to see how much she was worried about him, so she fisted her hands on her hips and yelled. "You've been out of it all day! You barely contributed anything to the fight. I mean, really, only disarming 20 men? You at least have their best swordsmen pissing their pants. And, if that wasn't bad enough, you haven't been listening to a word I said! You're not even listening to me now, are you? Gourry!"

Gourry’s head snapped up at the sound of his name, and he seemed to realize he was flat on the ground for the first time. He absently swiped at his nose as he pushed himself into a sitting position but still seemed out of it.

The worry that clawed like knives turned to nausea. She crouched, shoving her hand under his bangs to feel his forehead. Remembering her gloves, she swore and tugged off one before trying again. It was cool to the touch, but that didn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t sick. 

“I’m fine.” Gourry smiled at her, but it didn’t reassure her the way that it usually did. She sat back on her haunches. He looked and sounded fine, but she wasn’t convinced a single second that he actually was. 

Lina leaped to her feet and she tugged on his hair to force him up as well. "Ow, ow, ow!" he protested

"Then where have you been all day? You're nowhere near this empty-headed on a daily basis."

He opened his mouth. Closed it. She saw the moment he realized she wouldn’t let it go. “It’s nothing much, really. Just a dream. A really weird dream.”

"Oh?" Intrigued, the last of the anger vanished. Lina tilted her head. "What about?"

"Nothing." Gourry affectionately ruffled her bangs. "Just a bad dream."

Still not believing him, Lina gave up on the matter for the moment. She had ways of making him talk. 

She started down the road and he fell into step beside her. "It's a good thing we brought in a good haul today." She plucked at her yellow shirt. It was far too small for her. 

Gourry glanced down at her, his gaze lingering in a way she’d seen before. Just not directed at her. "That shirt makes you actually look like you have breasts."

"Really?" Pleased, Lina puffed her chest with pride, then snarled. "I should hope so! This thing’s way too small! I got it not long after I left home, and that was over five years ago.”

"Then, why are you wearing it now?"

She sighed. "My tunic and leggings shredded when I washed them last night. I think the battle against Luke was the final straw for those clothes."

Gourry plucked at the patched sleeve of the blue shirt he wore. "Yeah, we are pretty hard on clothes."

"Tell me about it." Lina kicked at a pebble and sighed at her boots. Like the rest of her wardrobe, they were also in pretty bad shape and the soles were nearly worn through. She could feel every rock they stepped on. She wasn't snobby about her wardrobe, but they could afford nicer clothes. "Guess with the whole deal about Luke and Millina, we didn't have time to replace anything. We should get some new stuff before we meet my folks.”

"Yeah. All my socks have holes in them."

"Mine too." Lina shot Gourry a wry grin. "Your grandma never gave you a lesson on darning socks in all that advice she gave you, did she?"

"Well, she did say to make sure I wound up with a woman who knew how to darn socks." Gourry grinned back at her, and she was relieved to see that this one was genuine. "So ... do you?"

Lina snorted. "Hell, no! My sis taught me a lot of things, but she declared that sewing and knitting needles were dangerous projectiles in my case." As Gourry laughed, she bumped hips with him. "Darn your own socks!"

Gourry draped an arm around Lina's shoulder as they laughed together. She nearly tripped over her own feet in surprise. She almost called attention to it, but for the first time that day, Gourry didn't look worried. She mentally shrugged and decided to go with the moment. Their steps still in time, she slipped her arm around his waist and they walked like that together until the next town came into view.

\-----

The town of Latoka was not that far from Zefiel City. Another day’s walk, two at the most, and they would be standing outside her parents’ store. 

Lina secured them a single large room with twin beds to save extra money for clothes. As they headed out, she tossed Gourry a small sack.

"What's this?" He weighed the sack in his hand and was surprised to feel a good amount of coin.

"Your share of the haul. You need clothes too, pal."

Gourry poked the bag open and let out a low whistle. "You never give me this much.”

Lina's shoulders stiffened. "I can afford to be generous once in awhile. Now if you don't want it ..."

Gourry swiftly tucked the bag away. Lina was pretty good about sharing whatever money they came across, but it was usually a 60-40 split. This was definitely a bit more. "Thanks."

"You mean thank you, the most kind and benevolent and beautiful sorceress you've ever met," Lina said with a grand sweep of her arm.

"I wouldn't go that far."

Lina glared. "Which of that isn't true?"

He wisely didn't answer.

As they headed toward a large shop that sold ready-made clothing, Gourry’s mind kept drifting back to that morning with the future Lina. 

It had to be a dream, he told himself as they fought bandits. The red-faced screaming sorceress who tripped after the looting looked nothing like the battle-weary woman who'd passionately kissed him. Maybe the hormones he'd been trying to keep at bay for years were finally getting the best of him.

His gut told him that it wasn’t the case. That future Lina had been real, and something was coming for them. Worry and want coiled in him, that kiss shattering the lock he kept on the desire he denied on a daily basis. When she checked his temperature, he nearly tugged her into him to see what she would do. The thought shocked him into a stupor that he was still fighting his way out of.

Clearly, as he just walked into the shop door.

“Gourry,” Lina hissed, rolling her eyes at him. He shot her an absent-minded smile, and she huffed. She stomped inside, past the racks of dresses and to the clothing aimed at young boys. She tugged out a shirt and eyed it. 

“Too small,” he absently said, wandering to the rack of regular-sized clothing, which were mostly too small in the other direction. It usually took some work to find a shirt long enough for his frame.

“Really?” With appreciation, she held the shirt up to her chest, then hooted with joy. “Hey, you’re right! About time!” She shoved the shirt back on the rack and decamped to the women’s clothing.

Gourry kept an ear tuned to Lina’s muttering as she shoved through racks of dresses, robes and tunics before rejoining him. "Find anything?"

"This and that. I normally don't pay a lot of attention to what I wear."

"I can tell. What about this?" Lina tugged out a robe with loose sleeves and a large collar in blue and held it up to him.

"It needs to go under my armor. And that's silly." Gourry wrinkled his nose a bit at the garment. He could name at least five things that would go wrong in battle if he wore a robe. 

"It can go under your armor! Look, go try these on." She grabbed a pair of trousers off another rack and shoved them in his arms.

"These aren't even my size. And this is practically a dress!"

Lina snarled. "If, you haven't noticed, we're in Zefielia now and men wear these sorts of robes here. Just go with it."

Gourry complied after reaching over Lina's head to snatch a pair of trousers in the correct size.

The robe was surprisingly not bad. The material was nice and snug where it needed to be, but he felt weird with so much of his chest exposed and the loose sleeves flapping about. His armor, at least, would take care of the chest issue.He rolled his shoulders and picked up the breastplate he had stacked neatly with his thigh guards outside the changing area. His armor had taken quite a beating during the fight with Luke, and he doubt that it would hold up much longer.

He emerged from the curtained-off area, tugging at the collar when he drew up short. Lina had also changed and now wore a robe the same color of her old clothes. She paired it with a long sash and a breastplate that reminded him a bit of a tortiseshell. She wore shorts and was examining new boots. Something about the clothes looked familiar.

A subtle movement out of the corner of his eye drew his attention, and Gourry realized there was so sort of shop within the shop they were already in. A gauzy curtain had come loose from its ties, fluttering into place over the empty doorway. Curious, he pushed it aside to see hundreds of small gems dangling from wooden stands arranged on counters.

"Welcome!" a cheerful voice greeted him. A small woman perched on a stool behind one of the counters. “I see you are shopping in my sister’s place. These are my magical pendants and amulets."

Like the type Lina tended to make from some of their bandit loot. But, more importantly, like the ones she had lost when they fought Luke. He wasn’t sure of how they exactly worked other than they boosted her magic when it was needed most. Lina told him that she had broken the tailsmans to access their power after Luke-Shabrathingy knocked him unconscious.

He always felt guilty that Lina had sacrificed something on his behalf, twice now: first with that Hellmaster kid and now with this. He had promised to protect her, but she wound up saving him instead. The very least he could do was try to find her something else, or let her know this store was here.

Instead, Gourry found himself being drawn further into the store. None of these amulets or pieces of jewelry made any sort of sense to him. He wasn’t even sure where to begin.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized with a smile. “I really don’t know much about these. My friend does though.”

“Not a magic user, I take it?” The woman got to her feet and reached for a cane she had propped against the case.

“Nah, I’m just her protector.”

“What does she need protecting from?”

“Oh, no. Everyone needs protecting from her.”

The woman chortled. “And just where is this friend?"

"Think she's still trying on stuff ..." Gourry looked over his shoulder, but the curtain had fallen back into place. He couldn’t hear Lina, which meant she was probably trying stuff on again. That reminded him of the robe. He plucked at the material and sighed. "This getup is silly."

"Oh? Come here, young man." The woman beckoned Gourry closer until she could grab a fold of his robe. She rubbed it between two gnarled fingers, then nodded. "This is made of dragon hide. It will protect you as well as that breastplate you stacked outside my room. Tougher than anything. If your girl picked this out for you, she has some sense."

"Really?" Gourry eyed his clothes again with a new appreciation. "But, it's long, and there’s a lot of extra cloth for someone to grab onto.”

"Men move with long cloaks all the time. You'll be fine in this.” The woman let the robe go. "You're in Zefilia now. Best magic users in the known world. Everything in my sister's shop is enchanted in some way. You won't be without protection by any means."

Feeling a bit better, Gourry glanced at the gems. "So, these go with your sister's clothes?" he asked, pointing to one of the displays.

"You can say that. Want something for your friend?”

"Maybe.”

"All right." The woman leaned heavily on her cane, almost toppling over. Gourry moved to assist her, but she waved him off. "Tell me about her," she ordered. "Why are you two together?"

Gourry hesitated. How could he even begin to summarize all that they'd gone through? He couldn't even remember it all. "I promised to protect her for the rest of my life."

"Ah. And your reason for being in Zefilia?”

"Well, Lina's from here, and I suggested we go see her family. It's grape season, you know," he added when the woman arched her eyebrow.

“Young man, you do know what it means to go meet a girl's parents in this country, don't you?"

Lina had alluded to the same thing when they left Sairaag, heading for Zefielia. She seemed almost disappointed in him when he talked about grapes, and that puzzled him somewhat. Of course he was interested in meeting Lina’s family. She had to come from somewhere, and she had spoken with fondness - and a bit of fear - about her parents and sister. It was something he never had: a functional family. 

But the way this woman was waiting for his answer made him realize he was missing the point entirely, and for once, he wanted to know the answer.

Gourry’s gaze fell to the case just in front of him, where an array of rings sparkled.

Oh _._

_Oh …_

“Figured it out, haven’t you, son?”

He nodded. He wasn’t quite sure he could even remember how to speak at the moment.

“Have you changed your mind about going to see your friend’s parents?”

Gourry shook his head.

“Well, then.” Her smile sympathetic. “Do you want to get something for her?”

“I … um …” It felt like he was being kicked down a road he didn’t realize was there. It felt like the day he had met that strange swordsman when he nearly tossed away the Sword of Light. That memory was one that remained lodged in his brain, because it was the moment his life had changed. 

Clearly he had done something about this, because future Lina had not hesitated to kiss him. Were they engaged? Married? She hadn’t said how far she had come from, but she was wearing the same clothes as the ones she was buying right now. That meant it couldn’t be that far in the future. His actions now meant making that future happen, and really the whole thing just made his head hurt.

Gourry found himself scanning the room, comparing the dozens of objects scattered around on racks and in cases with the amulet she had worn in his dream. His gaze halted when he spotted them just within his reach: two leather straps with emerald gems dangling from them. Hesitant, he plucked them off the rack.

“No ring?”

He shook his head. “No, these. It’s got to be these.”

The woman’s gaze weighed heavily on him, and he wondered if she would refuse to sell them. He stared at the gems in his hands and into his future.

“That is an interesting choice,” she said with a thump of her cane. She pointed at the gems. "Those are for protection. Not only that, but with the right spell on them, you will know when she is in mortal peril and she will know when you are the same. Put a drop of your blood on one, and a drop of hers on the other. Recite the spell, then exchange them. How good is your friend with magic?”

“The best I’ve ever seen,” he said with complete honesty. 

"Fine. Then give her this." She handed Gourry a piece of paper. "She'll know what to do. The rest is up to you. Fifty silver, please."

His head snapped up. "But, I ..."

"They're yours," the woman informed him. "They've been waiting for you. Fifty silver, please."

"There you are!" Lina bounced off the bench she'd been lounging on when Gourry came back through the curtain. "What was taking you so long? Never mind. Turn around." She lifted her finger and spun it in a circle. 

Gourry did as told. She paced around him slowly, nodding after a moment. Her gaze seemed to linger on the newly exposed part of his chest, and he suddenly didn’t mind it so much. 

"Premium dragon hide. You'll move easier in that in this climate. I'll cast some spells to make it stronger, maybe add a gem to your belt. Let's pay and go." Lina slapped him on the back and all but bounced to the register, ready to haggle to her heart’s content.

Gourry absently followed her to the store owner and waited for her to make a good deal before he arranged for his old armor to be scrapped and a new set of light mail to be delivered to their inn. He refused to go around without some sort of armor, no matter what hide his clothes were made from.

——

There was no better place to find gossip than the local Sorcerer’s Guild, and this particular town happened to have a tavern attached to the guild.Lina left Gourry in there to get them both drinks and something decent to eat while she checked in with the guild.

For once, neither of their pictures were tacked to the WANTED board, but there were a few interesting posters of magical outlaws. Mentally taking note of what she considered the easier pickings, she checked in with the guild leader. He only paled slightly when she gave her name and her rank. She only said “the Pink” through barely gritted teeth. It was satisfactory all around.

“It’s been quiet here,” he told her. “Mutterings of some sort of magical event happening in the middle of the Sairaag restoration, but no one can seem to get any details about it.”

“Interesting.” He wasn’t going to get a peep out of her on that.

“There is also the delegation from that country outside of the barrier visiting Saillune.”

That was more interesting. “Oh?”

“There is also a delegation going from each kingdom in the barrier lands to Saillune to greet these people. Her majesty even convinced Ceiphied’s Knight to lead Zefilia’s delegation.”

Lina didn’t hear anything else after that. Luna? Going to Saillune City? It took every ounce of willpower not to curse a blue streak. Instead, she put on her most winsome behavior and did her absolute best to cajole the guild leader into spilling everything that he knew.

She rejoined Gourry, who was well into his second helpings or pretty much everything on the table. She threw herself into her seat, glaring at her empty plate. Great, now her appetite was gone to boot. 

“Wassa matter?” Gourry asked around a mouthful of chicken.

She snatched his mug of ale and drained it in one go, ignoring his protests. “I need at least six more of these and the best booze this place’s got.”

“You’re gonna get pretty plastered if you drink all that.”

“That’s the idea.” It was the only thing that kept the nausea at bay at the moment. She filled him in as he finished eating.

"While we've been searching for a new sword for you, countries such as Saillune and the Coastal States have been sending expedition ships to the areas that were once encased in the magical barrier caused by the demon lords. When Phibrizzo was defeated, the barrier fell."

"Why hasn't anyone talked about it?" Gourry wondered. 

"Ever since Millina died ... well, we were involved with all that mess involving Luke and the Shabrangidu piece. It's been nearly two years since Phibrizzo fell. Besides, when do you bother listening to the news?" 

"You have a point!"

Lina rolled her eyes. "I remember hearing not long before you got the Blast Sword that Saillune had made first contact with one of those nations. But, I also heard that some of those nations were exploring up here themselves - and that they don't use magic."

"Really?" Gourry blinked, surprised. "I thought everywhere had magic users."

"I'm not sure, but I think technology, not magic, is what's prominent outside the barrier. It makes sense. Most magical knowledge was contained within the barrier when it was set 1,000 years ago.”

“So now your sister’s gonna go meet these non-magic users?”

“That’s the thing that’s getting me.” Lina absently spun her fork. A block of ice sat in her stomach. Luna simply didn’t go do things on the whim of Zefilia’s queen. She hadn’t heard a peep from her sister regarding any of her activities since she fought Rezo three years earlier. Twice, she had cast the spell that put their entire existence at risk, and there were cricket chirps from her homeland. She had faced off against the highest-ranking Mazoku lords in the world, and not a single letter. But a strange delegation of non-magic users was now visiting Saillune, and suddenly Luna was a diplomat? 

It meant something terrible was going to happen.

She wanted with every fiber of her being to grab Gourry’s arm and haul him somewhere far away where they couldn’t be found. For the first time in her life, she simply wanted to run and not face what lay ahead. 

Surely, she had thought as she stood vigil over Gourry’s bedside after the battle with Luke, surely things couldn’t get any worse than they already were. Surely they had already faced the hardest battles of their lives and come out the other side whole and sane and happy. That’s why they were going to see her family, right? She was going home, and she was not alone.

Lina felt Gourry’s hand atop hers, and for the first time, she noticed she’d been gripping the table so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

“Are you that scared of her?” The words were gentle, the same tone he used weeks earlier when coaxing her out of depression following Luke’s death. She found herself looking into eyes that were fully sympathetic, that seemed to say he knew a thing or two about rough dealings with siblings. It hit her once again that she never did ask about his family.

“It’s not that simple. She punished me a lot when we were growing up. Kinda deserved it,” Lina admitted. “But when I was 13, she told me to go see the world and grow up to become a wise adult. I think part of her knew what I would wind up finding. You have no idea how powerful she is, Gourry.”

“No one’s more powerful than you.”

“That’s not true.” Still, the show of loyalty chased away some of the dread. “My sister’s power is immense. Think Xelloss immense.”

He let out a low whistle at that. Even he with his cheese brain knew how powerful Xelloss was.

“Yup. If Luna thinks this delegation is serious, then it’s serious. I think we should go pay Amelia a visit. What do you think?”

“I go where you go.” Gourry squeezed the hand that he still held.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains a pretty huge spoiler for novel 17 at the end. If you want to remain unspoiled about the ongoing plot in the novels, it might be best to skip it.

When Lina and Gourry had left Sairaag weeks earlier, they traveled through the tip of Ralteague, then cut across Dils and Kalmaart. If they had taken the more southern route through Saillune City, they wouldn’t be playing catch up at this moment. Now they had to backtrack, and fast, if they wanted to arrive roughly around the same time as the delegation from Zefielia. 

“OK, so here are our options,” Lina announced as she walked into the inn room she and Gourry shared. The empty inn room. She scowled. She left him alone for five minutes … no, 10. OK, fine, maybe 45 minutes tops, while she hit up the Sorcerer Guild’s library to get some books for the trip.

Talk about people being weird, she thought as she headed downstairs to find him. In her panic, she’d all but forgotten that Gourry had been acting strange all day himself.

She didn't find him in the inn, the small tavern attached to the guild or at any of the other restaurants. She took to the air with a Levitation spell, scanning the streets and growing more worried until she saw a flash of yellow in a field outside of town. She flew toward the spot, not wanting to admit she was afraid she would find him bloody and battered. But, instead, he was laying on a wool blanket he'd procured from somewhere, staring at the sky.

Lina landed at Gourry's feet and scowled at him, hands on her hips. "Just what the hell've you been doing?"

"Looking at the stars.”

Lina sighed and dropped onto the blanket next to him. "You could have at least left a note like someone keeps haranguing me to do when I got bandit hunting.” She jabbed her elbow into his side, tilted her head, and her breath caught at the blanket of stars above them. Gourry had actually picked a really good spot, in an area relatively untouched by the light pollution from town."It's beautiful out here."

She laid back, folding her hands on her stomach. “It’s been awhile since I’ve done this.”

“Did you ever go star-gazing while you were at home?"

Lina flinched internally. For the first time in their partnership, she had allowed Gourry to pick the next place they were to go, and it was to see her family. Going to Saillune meant a significant delay in that agenda, and even though he encouraged the change in their plans, it meant putting his own off. Something about that felt wrong.

She sidled a glance at him. Gourry really didn't know what it meant to visit a girl's family like … _that_ did he? He'd been oddly insistent about going, but said it was for grapes. Really, they could get good wine just about anywhere. She fidgeted, and wondered if she should bring it up. There was no use having him be blindsided by her parents and sister.

She sat up. "Hey ... um ... sorry about this. I know you wanted to go meet my folks, but ..."

For the first time, he focused on her. “It's OK. This is more important, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Well. Maybe. I don’t know. My gut is saying to get there as fast as we can.”

“Then trust your gut.”

Lina turned her attention back to the stars. It was nights like this that she was amazed that she was still alive. Not just alive, but healthy and happy. Her thoughts drifted to Luke and Millina. She hadn't mourned them since that horrible night when she kicked Memphis and Milgasia out after they wanted to know the outcome of the battle against Luke, and Gourry had urged her to grieve. Then she had cried, his hand cupping her cheek the entire time, his thumb stroking away the tears as he held her hand.

Part of her wished that she could have done something - anything - so it was Luke and Millina sitting under the stars together. Who knows, she thought wryly, maybe they'd actually get it together.

Lina knew there was something painfully ironic in that statement.

"See any good constellations?" she hastily asked, not quite willing to dive further into that part of her psyche.

Gourry scratched at his cheek. "I don't really know any."

"How can you not know any? Geez, look." Lina pointed at the North Star. "Follow my finger to ... there. You know the North Star, right?"

He rolled his eyes. "Of course. Even I know that."

"You're not half the idiot I thought you were. OK, follow my finger to the south ... there, see that bright star diagonal to it?"

"Yeah?"

"Follow it around." Lina pointed to the different stars, sketching out a shape in the sky. "It's called the Dipper. See? It's shaped like a water dipper."

Gourry gave her a puzzled look. "It just looks like stars to me." 

"Use your imagination! Imagine there's lines connecting those stars. What do you see then?"

"Uh ... stars?"

Lina snarled. "Try imagining a little harder," she growled.

"But, why would I want to imagine a water dipper?"

"Because it's fun," Lina sighed. "You just don't get it, do you? Constellations are often used to teach about different historic events and figures. Didn't you pay attention in school at all?"

"I never went to school." Gourry shifted his focus back to the sky.

Somehow, that didn't surprise her. He knew how to read and write, so someone had to have to have taught him. Private education was the realm of the rich, or at least landed gentry. She'd suspected for awhile that Gourry, due to his heritage with the Sword of Light, had at least come from a knight's household. "Who taught you to read?"

"My mom did." He stared straight ahead, almost as if he was caught up in a memory rather in their surroundings. Not the look she associated with him when he spaced out, but something else. "After my dad died, we stayed with my grandma, and she taught me more."

In two sentences, Gourry had told her more about his past than she'd ever heard before. He had made references to it in the past before, mentioning his grandmother taught him etiquette and that his father had attempted to teach him about his family’s history. But he had never been that forthcoming about his past, and she hadn’t pressed. It suddenly occurred to Lina that she had meant to grill him about his first visit to Sairaag years earlier and never did.

Curiosity piqued, she carefully weighed her next question. "When did that happen?"

"When I was 11.” He fidgeted, and Lina knew they were treading into very sore territory.

She risked another. “Is your mom still alive?"

"No," he snapped.

She laid her hand on his arm and the muscles quivered beneath her touch. "I'm sorry."

"It's OK." He smiled at her, the same bright, sunny smile he'd always given her, and for the first time she wondered what all he was hiding behind it.

He reached over and started running his hand through her hair. It felt good, and she remembered a similar time he had done that, when he had told her that he didn't need a reason to travel with her. Traveling aimlessly ... that was fine for both of them. It hadn't been all that long ago.

She closed her eyes, leaning into his touch. Instinctively, she shifted closer until she was tucked against his side and his arm supported her neck. They stayed like that, curled into each other and gazing at the stars. When exhaustion overtook her, she shifted, resting her head on his chest. As she fell asleep with Gourry's strong, steady heartbeat in her ear, Lina hoped that in the afterlife, Luke had found Millina at last.

——

Gourry stayed awake longer, staring at the sky and fighting back the worry that had driven him on his walk in the first place. The weight of the two small stones in his pocket pressed against his thigh, a constant reminder that he needed to give them to her and explain what they were for. This trip unsettled him, and it wasn’t just Lina’s nerves regarding her sister.

He kept seeing that future Lina, the one who told him that they were fighting a war and they were losing. It had to do with whatever was going on in Saillune, he knew it in his bones. 

Lina was now wearing the exact same clothes as the future Lina wore. The bracelet she’d worn was now in his pocket.

He yearned to tell her what happened, but he couldn’t break his vow to her future self. Plus, what if that caused the future to change and only made things worse?

He never kept secrets from her, the exception being his family. Even then she had come too close that night to learning the truth, slipping under his battered defenses. It's to protect her, he told himself. She would understand once she figured it out in the future.

\-----

Their fastest option was travel by private carriage, which would take a great deal of the money they squirreled away from their recent bandit hauls. It cut down their walk from a couple of weeks to just a few days, and Lina used every bit of time she could to hunt through the books she had gotten from the Sorcerer's Guild.  She pored through them, reading until she got dizzy from motion sickness. Her reading glasses needed tweaking, and she made a note to see an optometrist at some point.

The history books held rough sketches of the lands outside of the barriers, most represented by pictures of large dragons and no country borders. She didn’t expect to find anything, but it was worth a try.

On their fifth day of travel, their carriage entered Saillune City through the gates at the northern tip of the walls, joining a steady stream of travelers making their way into the city. Already Lina could feel her magic weaken as the carriage climbed up the ramp that lead to the top of the walls.

There would be four checkpoints while on the walls themselves, each one stricter as they got closer to the royal palace. The outer gates tended to be perfunctory, but the checks got pretty strict the closer one got to the palace and the Temple of Ceiphied. She wasn’t fully expecting a royal guard to stick his head in their carriage when it stopped at the first customs point.

“Papers,” he ordered in a bored voice.

Lina simply stared at him. _Travel papers?_ She and Gourry didn’t have any. Most kingdoms within the barrier lands didn’t require them, and they didn’t exactly lead a lifestyle that led to having intact documents. She held up a hand to keep Gourry from speaking. “We don’t have any. Since when does Saillune require travel papers?”

“You do for this weird event.” The guard shrugged. “Sounds like a bunch of useless paperwork to me, but you know I’m not the boss.”

“Yeah, I hear ya.” Considering, she rummaged in her cape and pulled out the only thing she had: a letter from Amelia that was dated not all that long ago. They had stayed in Sairaag long enough for the mail to actually catch up with them. She flashed the seal at him. “We’re friends with Princess Amelia.”

That got the guard’s attention. “Names?”

When she told him, he frowned. “Wait here,” he said, plucked the letter from Lina’s hand and disappeared.

“Hey!” she protested. The letter, thankfully, hadn’t been anything important. It was ramblings about Amelia’s training and kingdom gossip. Still, it was her letter. She started out of the carriage and was yanked back when Gourry grabbed her cape. “He’s got my letter!”

“What did you do, Lina?”

“Me? What did I do? Absolutely nothing this time! You ought to know, you’ve been attached to me at the hip!”

“Well, you clearly did something.”

“I did absolutely-“

“Inverse-san?” The guard’s voice cut into their argument, and their attention snapped to him. “We will provide you a personal escort to the palace. If you’ll follow us, we will get your luggage transferred.”

“Well, then!” Annoyance forgotten, Lina grabbed the letter back and bounded out of the carriage to see a second one waiting for them, this one with the royal seal. “Looks like we’ve been expected!”

She went to pay their driver but was stayed by the guard. “This has been settled on your behalf by Princess Amelia.”

“Amelia! I knew she’d come through for us!” Lina all but shoved Gourry into the second carriage. She tossed herself on the plush squabs, groaning with sheer delight. “That coach wasn’t the worst I’ve traveled in, but this is so much better.”

“How did Amelia know we were coming?” Gourry asked as he settled across from her.

“Good question.” The joy of wallowing in luxury dimmed as their royal escort started their way toward the palace.

It'd been two years since she and Gourry had last been here, when they escorted Sylphiel to stay with her aunt and uncle after her father's death at the hands of Copy Rezo. At the time, the king had been gravely ill and Prince Phil the target of assassins.

Eldoran, as far as she knew, was still alive and still ill. Amelia hadn’t spoken of her grandfather during their travels, and Lina couldn’t blame her. Her family’s fight over the throne had nearly wound up with herself nearly being killed several times over.

The last time they’d been in the city, it felt like it was bracing for a battle that was mostly avoided in the end. It had been all but deserted. Now it was the place of culture and learning that Lina had heard about. Street corners were crowded with pedestrians trying to buy stuff from peddlers. Many of the booths were hawking souvenirs, commemorating the grand event that Saillune was hosting. Everyone wanted a little piece of something to remember when the delegation from beyond the barrier visited.

“Looks like fun, huh?” Gourry observed.

“Well, it’s not,” Lina snapped. The siren’s song scent of fried food wafted through the carriage and her stomach rumbled.

The carriage descended the main road just short of the walls, which made Lina frown. Then she spotted a small house they had visited before. “Hey, they’re taking us to Sylphiel!”

Within minutes, they were standing outside the same door they escorted Sylphiel after their battle in Sairaag. Lina barely knocked before it was thrown open to a glad cry.

Sylphiel had always been stunningly beautiful. But she had grown even lovelier since they last saw her. She wore ornate priestess robes, befitting her status as one who worked within the palace. Her long hair cascaded down her back, and her eyes held warmth and welcome.

Lina braced. In addition to being gorgeous and kind, Sylphiel had a massive crush on Gourry that she never quite seemed to get over during their previous travels.  But Sylphiel’s face held none of the starry-eyed crush this time. She hastily embraced them both, and as she pulled away, Lina spotted the ring on her left hand. 

She hadn't realized she was jealous until she felt something akin to relief sweep through her. She decided to ignore that for now. 

“Please, come sit down.” Sylphiel led the way into the parlor where they had all met an on-the-run Phil once.

“All alone here, huh, Sylphiel?” Lina couldn’t resist it.

Sylphiel flushed. “For the moment,” she murmured. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some tea and snacks already prepared.”

The moment she was out of the room, Lina elbowed Gourry. “So, did ya see it?”

He blinked at her. “See what?”

“Her hand? She’s engaged! Pay attention!”

“Oh!” His face lit up as Sylphiel came back into the room bearing a tray. “Hey, congratulations!”

Lina stomped on his foot. “Does the word subtle even exist in your vocabulary?” she hissed.

“It’s in mine more than it’s in yours!”

“You two,” Sylphiel cut in, “haven’t changed one bit.” She waved to the sofas. “Please be seated, and I’ll let you know why you’re here in a few minutes. And thank you, Gourry-san.”

Lina nearly dropped the teacup she just picked up. _San?_ Before she could gawk at the change in honorific, a knock at the door drew their attention, and Sylphiel rushed to open it.

“Lina-san! Gourry-san!”

A joyous squeal came from the door, and before Lina could fully gain her feet, she had her arms full of excited princess. Amelia squeezed her hard, then did the same thing for Gourry. "You two look well, and I love your clothes!"

“Let them breathe, Amelia. You don’t have to hug them as hard as you do me.”

“I can hug them as hard as I want,” Amelia retorted as Zelgadis trailed her into the room.

Amelia had, damn her, grown a couple of inches in the years since Lina saw her last. She now stood slightly above Zelgadis's shoulders. The chimera looked the same as when she last saw him, but stood quite at ease at the princess's back. Lina's eyebrow winged up. Something clearly had happened between the two since she last saw them.

Sylphiel hurried back into the room. “The all the doors are locked.”

Zelgadis nodded. “Right. Amelia?”

“Right!”

Much to Lina’s surprise, Amelia began casting a shield spell around the room as Sylphiel layered it with room-silencing spells.

“Whoa! What’s with the protection?”

“We wanted to be absolutely sure no one could hear us,” Zelgadis explained. “It’s why we’re meeting here and not in the palace.”

“There,” Sylphiel said. “We should be safe.”

“We heard about what happened in Sairaag,” Amelia said as she poured herself tea. She perched on the sofa across from them. “Not all of it, but enough to know you two were involved. We sent out scouts and they were about to intercept you before you turned around and started heading back to Saillune.”

Zelgadis took the seat next to Amelia. “What do you know about the expeditions to the southern lands?”

“The basics,” Lina said. “Just that they were happening from your end and that other kingdoms were exploring as well.”

“I’ve got a question,” Gourry said. “I thought Saillune was landlocked?”

“A long time ago, Saillune also included what's now the Alliance of Coastal States," Lina explained. "So, they had a water border to the south and a pretty respectable navy. The Alliance allowed Saillune to keep that navy when they split away.”

Amelia nodded. “After Phibrizzo was defeated, Daddy contacted the other kingdoms to raise the fleet that you heard about. The first of our ships went out about a year and a half ago. They were gone until six months ago. Three went out in that first wave. Only came back.”

“Were they attacked?”

Amelia nodded again. “According to the survivors, they came across another ship of a very different design. When our ships identified themselves, that ship did something with a non-magical explosive device that sank two of the ships. The third was the one in the rear of the fleet, and it just barely got away thanks to its sorcerers using Ray Wing.”

“Meanwhile, I also ventured to the outer lands, traveling over the Desert of Destruction,” Zelgadis chimed in. “The devices Amelia speak of are called ‘cannons,’ and they use a powder mixture they call ‘gunpowder.’ It allows them to shoot large metal balls into objects. Or, in this case, ships.”

"I've heard vaguely about them," Lina said, thinking of the history books she pored through on the trip. "There was some experimentation to that effect as a means of targeting Mazoku more than a thousand years ago. Then the barrier went up and sorcerers became more powerful thanks to Lei Magnus.”

She sat back and frowned. Normally, she would argue that magic would win over technology, especially something that primitive, every time. But clearly not in this case. Granted, the Saillune fleet probably wasn’t expecting that sort of attack.

"There's a country who used to be closely linked to the barrier lands, and that is where the experimentation originated,” Zelgadis said. “When the barrier went up, that land was cut off. It was known by a different name then, but today it’s called Luzlite. Magic there has become taboo and is generally feared. I barely escaped with my life when they found out I was a sorcerer.

“From there, I continued down to a neighboring kingdom, one that had a port. I heard about the attack on the Saillune ships and decided to come back here. I hitched a ride on various ships until I was far enough north to where I could come back across the desert then came here.”

"Three weeks ago, I was out on a walk with my fiancé when we saw a trio of strangely dressed people arrive at the palace," Sylphiel spoke up. "They really didn't know our common language ... but they knew old Saillune, a dialect spoken a thousand years ago. Much of the original holy magic texts are written in it. I'd been studying the language, so I took them to see Amelia-san and Phil-san. They identified themselves as being from Luzlite, the kingdom that Zelgadis-san had been in, and claimed they were here on a mission of peace.”

“Peace? After driving you out of there violently?” Lina winged an eyebrow at Zelgadis, who shrugged.

“It’s not like it’s the first time.”

“If they hate magic so much,” Gourry asked, “then why would they come here?”

“For the same reason we’re exploring out there,” Lina replied. “Don’t you want to know what lies beyond the barrier?”

He absently scratched his cheek and shrugged. “I never really thought about it.”

_Figures …_ Lina turned her attention back to Amelia, pointing at her. “And you! Your ship came back six months ago, right? And you’re rolling out the red carpet for them!”

“We didn’t know at the time that it was an Luzlite ship that attacked ours,” Amelia admitted. “It wasn’t until Zelgadis-san got back and told us what he knew that we put the pieces together. Unfortunately, by the time he did, the Luzlite delegation had already made contact with us.”

“So, basically, this delegation from Luzlite came here to pick a fight because they fell on the wrong side of the barrier 1,000 years ago?”

Zelgadis, Amelia, and Sylphiel all exchanged a worried look. Lina’s stomach pitched, and the cakes she had consumed congealed into a greasy ball. “That’s not all, is it?”

“No.” Zel continued. “While I was in Luzlite's royal capital, when they heard I was from the barrier lands, I was told of a prophecy that was given to them after the barrier fell.”

“And,” Amelia added, “the ambassadors that Luzlite sent to Saillune spoke of the same prophecy. When Zelgadis-san shared his story with me, we quickly realized what it, or rather who, it was about.”

Lina suspected she wasn’t going to like what they had to say next. “What was the prophecy?”

Zel opened his mouth to reply, but it wasn’t his voice that answered.

“Know this: From the land sealed by evil, the one who summons chaos into their body will appear in this land and bring about calamity.” Their gazes swung to the doorway, where a woman with shoulder-length violet hair stood, dressed in traveling clothes and tucking a lockpick back into her pocket. “It seems, dear sister, they are here for you.”


End file.
